Elon Musk announced Tuesday that he will resign as CEO of Twitter once a replacement is found, in an apparent response to a poll he launched that indicated users wanted him to step down.
Musk has fully owned Twitter since October 27 and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, dismissing half of its employees, re-admitting far-right figures, suspending journalists, and attempting to charge for previously free services.
“I’ll resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to accept the position!” Musk tweeted that he will then only run Twitter’s software and server teams.
According to the poll results released on Monday, 57% of voters, or 10 million votes, supported Musk stepping down just weeks after acquiring the company for $44 billion.
Musk has used Twitter polls to make other decisions on the platform, including the reinstatement of former US President Donald Trump’s account and the accounts of other suspended users.
Earlier this week, he mocked a report that he was looking for someone to take over as CEO of Twitter, tweeting that “no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive.”
Analysts have noted that the stock price of Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has dropped by one-third since Musk’s Twitter takeover, and some speculate that Tesla’s board was pressuring Musk to step down from his Twitter role.
“Finally, a good step in the right direction to end this painful nightmare for Tesla investors,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said on Tuesday.
Musk reiterated his warnings that the platform could go bankrupt in discussions with users following the release of his latest poll.
